Media coverage of the growing Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia has presented world audiences with apocalyptic predictions of ultimate death tolls and grisly imaginings of its spread to other shores. But we’ve heard little about the people left behind. What impacts has the epidemic had on their livelihoods?
Consider this story of an okada (motorcycle taxi) driver in the Sierra Leonean city of Makeni. Following the Ebola-related deaths of a number of this man’s relatives, the Sierra Leonean government – not unreasonably – placed him under quarantine for 21 days. When he emerged with clear test results he found that the government had banned okadas from operating, in an attempt to contain the spread of infection.
Despite avoiding infection, the driver was unable to make a living. He later doused himself in petrol (gasoline) to end his life. For this young man and many others among the 25 million people of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola is not just an epidemiological terror, it is also a socioeconomic disaster.
Before the epidemic, these three countries were already among the world’s poorest. They ranked within the bottom 5% of the Human Development Index. Five million of their combined population is considered undernourished.
Though the causes are longstanding and complex, one reason for this poverty is the region is still recovering from another disaster, the Mano River Wars (including the Civil Wars of Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2001 and Liberia from 1989 to 1997 and 1999 to 2003). These wars displaced millions, destroyed infrastructure and ruined countless livelihoods.
An important effect of wartime displacement was the meteoric growth of urban centres such as Freetown. In the post-conflict context, many recovering households have become dependent on incomes from serving the needs of new and expanded urban markets.
